


Without a Word

by Writerofthelorde



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 11k words, A little bit of angst, Affection, Angst, Best Friends, Blue Spirit - Freeform, Boys Kissing, Caretaking, Caring, Caring Zuko, Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fondness, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gentle Kissing, Happy Ending, Hurt Sokka (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Longing, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Sick Character, Sick Sokka, Sickfic, Soft Zuko, Tenderness, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Love, Yearning, eventually, soft sokka, taking care of each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27028912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerofthelorde/pseuds/Writerofthelorde
Summary: Sokka is sick while at the fire nation, Zuko has no time to visit him but he's also too scared of what he'd do if he did visit. He wants to take care of him and shower him with the love he feels but, he could never do that while being himself. And so, he becomes the blue spirit at night to sneak into Sokka's room to take care of him.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 206





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for some more tenderness! The story is pretty much finished already, I just prefer to have it in chapters so the next one will be uploaded tomorrow around the same time! I hope you enjoy <3
> 
> Fic will be around 11k in words.

After the war, Zuko offers to house and feed the Gaang as a thank you and a way for them to relax after such a hard.. year? well, _several_ years. He tells them they can stay as long as they want.

They go home first, rebuilding the water tribe village and the air temple. After a few months, they come to visit and take him up on the offer. They ended up staying longer than planned, simply because Sokka had gotten sick. Toph and Aang didn’t have to stay too, but Toph was enjoying herself way too much to leave and Aang wanted to stay close to Katara and her brother.

Zuko doesn’t dare nor has the time to check up on Sokka as the fire lord, and so he comes into his room at night as the blue spirit and takes care of him.

The blue spirit came in every night. He was quiet and careful. He would come in with a glass of water and two towels; a dry one and a wet one. He used the dry one to clean off his sweat and then the wet one to cool down his face. He’d sit at the edge of the bed every night dabbing away the sweat, and then gently padding the wet towel all over his face and softly blowing air on him. He would tremble with a need to care and love and protect.

He never spoke a word.

He couldn’t possibly give away who he was. Sokka was never allowed to know that he felt the need to care for him. He was never allowed to know that he wanted to cradle his face in his hands and softly blow air on him, till his fever broke. He was never allowed to know how badly he just wanted to hold him close. He was _especially_ never allowed to know that he loved him with all his heart.

Sokka would lie there half asleep, half awake enjoying the soft and gentle touches. He couldn’t deny that the tenderness gave him butterflies that he couldn’t quite explain, but he liked to blame them on the fever, or the fact that it was the middle of the night. He didn’t feel it with any of the nurses who took care of him during the day. It was only with this mysterious stranger. It was odd, but more importantly, it was nice.

The blue spirit never spoke, never even made a sound beyond shushing him if he panicked. They took care of him without a word.

Sokka had no idea that it was his best friend, the guy he was utterly in love with, who cared for him each night.

There was something about him that felt familiar, but Sokka just simply could not place it. Not from the way he moved over to the bed from the door, not from the way he sat down at the _very_ edge of the bed -almost not daring to take up more space- not from the way he tucked him in, not even from the heat of his hands as they caressed his face. It was _something_ , but he just, could _not_ figure it out.

No matter what, he slept soundly when the spirit had visited. They made sure of that.

As the spirit, Zuko allowed himself things he craved but, did not dare to ask for as himself. He would brush Sokka’s hair out of his face, and he would take his sweet time doing that, trying to ingrain the feeling of his soft hair into his brain.

He would caress his cheek, or gently wipe away a drop of water that was threatening to roll into his ear. He would fix his shirt, and pull the blankets over him, and if he shivered he would tuck him in real tight, making sure no heat could escape.

If he woke up early enough in the morning he would also make him a cup of nice hot tea and take another second to caress his cheek and stare at him in the warm morning light.

If he hadn’t been wearing a mask he would have brushed his lips over his dampened forehead. If he could detach himself from who he was he would have whispered sweet words of love and devotion in his ear. If he had been anything even close to Sokka’s type he would’ve lied down next to him and held on tight.

Except he _did_ wear a mask.

He could _not_ be anything other than himself...

…and he _wasn’t_ … even remotely… anything like Sokka’s type.

At least that's what he believed.

When during the day people would ask Zuko why he was so tired he’d say he was just busy and not sleeping too well, because of the pressure of being fire lord, of course. It made sense. It was even sometimes true, but the whole truth, it was not.

For the longest time, Sokka kept the visits to himself. He didn’t want to tell the others how there was a mysterious stranger in a mask giving him such gentle care every night, it felt personal. Or that he had butterflies every time the stranger touched him. Or that some nights he couldn't sleep in anticipation of their care. Or that part of him wished he would stay sick for a long time, just because he was scared of losing their care once the flu left.

Part of him hated that he felt that way. He was utterly in love with the young Fire Lord and yet… there was this stranger… This stranger who made him feel so loved, so important. He wished, sometimes, that Zuko would make him feel that way… but ever since he had become the fire lord he barely ever saw him anymore.

So instead, he spent his waking hours daydreaming about Zuko doing such things. He’d daydream about his fingers in his hair, or his fingers on his cheek.. his chin.. his chest.. He dreamt of his lips, well, in about the same places.

One morning during their shared breakfast Sokka finally decided that he had to tell someone there was a stranger caring for him. It was just too bizarre not to tell them. Right? It wasn’t just because it was driving him crazy that he was basically falling in love with a stranger, even though he was head over heels for their new fire lord.

Though he had told himself he had lost hope for the guy ever returning his feelings, he was still in fact, hopelessly hopeful.

He was sat at the end of a long table, the others were sitting in the middle, as to not come too close to their sick friend.

He had chosen a morning on which Zuko hadn’t shown up. One of the guards said it was his first morning off in weeks and so he was sleeping in. That made total sense to everyone and so they had decided not to go bother him about why he wasn't showing up.

A part of Sokka was glad that he wasn’t there. He was uncertain how Zuko would react to a stranger taking gentle care of him at night. He was worried that maybe Zuko would be jealous. He was his best friend after all, even if they hadn’t been seeing each other much at all.

Ever since Zuko had officially become fire lord he had had so many duties that it wasn’t unheard of for them to not see each other for a week. Sokka tried not to think about it too much. He wanted so badly to be a part of Zuko’s life, that barely ever seeing him, let alone not being an active part of his life, hurt him deeply.

He sighed to calm himself down and tried to push aside his sadness. This was not about Zuko or how he wished he could see him more... Or about how he wished he could take care of Zuko the way this spirit was taking care of him, or the other way around. He longed for domesticity more than he would ever admit.

“So uhh…” He spoke up. Katara and Aang turned their heads to face him and Toph paused her eating. He swallowed heavily; he was way too nervous.

“So ever since I got the flu there’s been this… mysterious stranger visiting me at night…”

“What?” Aang asked as Katara pulled a confused face. Toph seemed unfazed.

“Yeah... They wear a mask and never speak a word, but they always bring me water and tuck me in.”

“I’m sure you’re just hallucinating from the fever, Sokka,” Katara said, immediately uninterested.

“Right, and I’m hallucinating a physical glass into my room every morning too?”

Katara tilted her head and thought for a moment. “I guess not?”

“What does their mask look like?” Aang asked, deep in thought.

“It’s blue with white and some black. I’ve done some research at the library and I think they call themself the blue spirit.”

Aang pulled a face at that but didn’t say a word. Sokka had missed the expression as he looked at Toph when she spoke.

“You’re telling me there's a person pretending to be a spirit coming into your room at night, to bring you water and tuck you in?” She asked incredulously.

Sokka rubbed the side of his face. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true..!”

He decided not to add in the fact that the spirit played with his hair, and caressed his face and almost seemed to… know him… but they couldn’t, because they didn't know anyone else who lived in the palace or had access to it….

“Are you sure it's the blue spirit?” Aang asked.

Sokka pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and tried to throw it at Aang, but it just fluttered to the ground like a leaf in autumn.

Aang didn't hesitate to get up and grab it.

“I redrew it from one of the books,” Sokka said as a way of explaining how bad the drawing looked.

“You didn't have a lot of light, huh?” Aang joked.

Sokka did not have the energy to playfully fight him, and so he just huffed dramatically.

Aang folded the piece of paper and air bent it back over to Sokka.

“Couldn’t you have done that to get it to you?” Sokka complained. He grabbed the piece of paper and quickly shoved it back into his pocket. He didn't want to accidentally forget it and have Zuko find it or something.

The conversation died down after that, as no one knew what else to say, and they continued to eat in silence.

That went… alright?

Sokka wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, or hoping for even. He had really just wanted to talk about it so it wasn’t the only thing he thought about, at every second of every day. He hoped this would help.

When Sokka decided it was time to get back into bed, because his head was about to explode, Aang offered to walk him to his room.

“You know, in case your head does explode and we need someone to come clean it up.”

Sokka pursed his lips and shook his head to the side. “Can’t believe you’re offering to help clean up…. but yeah that seems fair.”

“I’m offering to get someone, not do it myself.” Aang joked.

They walked to his room in silence, but once they arrived Aang let himself in.

“Sokka, I know who the blue spirit is.” He admitted finally.

Sokka sat down on the bed and looked up expectantly. “Who is it?”

He had asked it before he had taken the time to think about it. Did he really want to know? What if it was disappointing? Or worse… what if it was Katara?! The sisterly love would be nice and all but he had straight-up butterflies so that would be more than disturbing.

“You know what, Aang, I’ve changed my mind I don’t want to know who it is.”

“Alright.” Aang said, and shrugged, walking towards the door. “I don't think you’d be disappointed if I did say-”

“Wait.” Sokka immediately said. His heart was racing so fast there was a soft whistle in his ears, growing louder the longer it took for Aang to answer. He looked down, swallowed heavily and then looked back up determined. "I want to know.”

Aang checked outside into the hallway and took a deep breath when he saw that they were alone. “The blue spirit is Zuko.”

“It’s… it’s **_Zuko_** …?!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sokka tries to figure out how to confront Zuko about being the blue spirit, and Zuko tries to allow himself to be vulnerable.

“It’s… it’s _Zuko_ …?!” Sokka was completely blown away. His butterflies resurfaced tenfold. “Are you sure?”

“Yes Sokka, I’m sure. Remember when you and Katara were sick and I was captured? The blue spirit freed me, but he was hurt so I helped him out, but he was passed out so I took off his mask to see who saved me and it was him. I felt in that moment that if things were different we would’ve been friends.” He smiled proudly. “And now we are!”

“And then what happened?”

“I ran off.” Aang shrugged. “I think he was still figuring things out. He put himself through a lot to free me, but I don’t think he knew why he did it at the time, so just to keep myself safe, I ran.”

Sokka hummed as he thought. “and you’re sure there is no other blue spirit?”

Aang nodded. “Yes, there’s only ever been a blue spirit in places and during times that Zuko was there.”

Sokka nodded still deep in thought. “And uhh… how did you know this wouldn’t disappoint me?” He asked carefully.

Aang looked him up and down and seemed to try and make a decision. “I know you have feelings for him.” He decided to say honestly.

Sokka’s eyes were wide. How did he know?

“Sokka, you’re fine. There’s no need to be worried.” Aang said when he saw the panic in his eyes and posture. “I mean honestly, after Yue and Suki it only makes sense.”

Sokka sighed out. He wasn’t sure why it made sense to Aang, but he felt more relieved than he wanted to admit. “Thanks, Aang.”

Aang nodded politely and left Sokka to his thoughts.

After being alone for a moment he realised what Aang had implied with the last thing he had said; he likes figures of authority. _Shit._ Sokka thought. _He’s right._

Thinking of Zuko being the blue spirit made him feel less sick. Due to the butterflies in his belly and the heat in his cheeks; heat that wasn’t from his fever.

And so he spent the entire day thinking about him. He remembered the way the spirit had pulled up his blankets and tucked him in on numerous visits. Or how the spirit brushed his hair out of his face and dabbed away the sweat. Or how the spir- Zuko... How _Zuko_ caressed his cheek, softly blowing cold air on him to cool him down. How Zuko would leave glasses of water on his nightstand, and sometimes hot tea in the mornings.

He felt all warm and fuzzy knowing it was Zuko who did these things for him. For the first time since Zuko had become the fire lord, he felt _truly_ hopeful that maybe Zuko felt about him the way he felt about Zuko.

That night Sokka couldn’t sleep, he felt too nervous to see him. Was he going to just immediately tell him he knew it was him? No, he couldn’t do that. A part of him still thought it couldn’t possibly be him. Still thought, _he’s the fire lord he could just come to visit whenever he wanted,_ but part of him also knew that Zuko wasn’t great with being openly caring. He tried his best, and he did truly care about people, but it was just so hard for him to show that. He had focussed so much of his life on how evil he was supposed to be, he still sometimes felt conflicted when it came to being the opposite.

When the spirit visited that night, Sokka had to pretend he was asleep.

Zuko noticed that he was awake almost immediately, but he didn’t have a different voice for the spirit, and so he stayed quiet and pretended to believe Sokka was truly asleep.

He couldn’t help but tremble at the thought of Sokka being awake. What if Sokka started talking to him? Or worse, tried to take his mask off?

He sat at the edge of the bed and tucked him in, after setting down the glass of water he had entered with. He grabbed a cloth and gently dabbed away the sweat on his forehead. He brushed some hair out of the way and went over it again, carefully.

Sokka had an extremely hard time not reacting to everything. The cautiousness at which he helped him was almost too much. The love oozing from his everything was.. _intoxicating_. He wanted him to stay all night but… he knew that he wouldn’t.

For a moment he thought about the butterflies he kept having when Zuko took care of him. Did he know deep down that it was him? Did his subconscious recognise his smell or maybe his the way he felt? Whatever the answer was, he was glad to know that he wasn’t crushing on someone that wasn’t Zuko.

Zuko sat there and gently caressed his face and hair until Sokka was actually asleep. It was the most calming sleep he’d had in maybe ever. Knowing it was Zuko who did it. Knowing that Zuko loved him. Maybe not the way he wanted to, but platonic love had to count for something. …right?

In the morning he was disappointed to find him gone. Even though he knew he wouldn’t be there, he had still hoped he’d be asleep at the foot of his bed, or perhaps next to him or maybe even in his arms… or _something_ like that.

He spent half the morning awake in bed thinking about the soft touches that inevitably lulled him to sleep. He hadn’t blushed this much in quite some time. He was glad no one was around to see it.

That night, almost all of them were together in the big dining room eating their hearts out, and Sokka was eating… soup. The soup was delicious, he couldn’t deny that but, he couldn’t wait for his stomach to get back to normal again so he could eat some delicious meat.

Aang hadn’t joined them that night, he was off doing some Avatar thing, and Sokka thought that made tonight the perfect time to test the waters. He just had to check and make sure the blue spirit was in fact Zuko, and he didn't want Aang interfering.

“So, this mysterious stranger showed up again last night,” Sokka mentioned between bites, as if it was nothing.

Zuko choked on his water and everyone looked at him surprised. “Sorry, I breathed in at the wrong moment.” He lied when he was done coughing. “Please continue, Sokka. There’s a stranger?” There was a slight tremor in his voice. The others probably wrote it off as a thing caused by the coughing but Sokka knew it wasn’t. He made a mental note of it.

Toph tilted her head in curiosity. She wasn’t sure why Zuko was lying, but for now, she wasn’t going to mention it to find out. For now.

Sokka tried his best to not show that he knew Zuko was lying and continued with his story.

“This stranger has come in…” He began to explain to Zuko. “I think, every night since I got sick…?” he took a drink of his water, carefully glancing at Zuko, who was very focused on his food.

“They’re very kind.” He said, still looking at Zuko, but without really _looking_. “They bring water, and cool my face when I have a fever, they’re very gentle with me.”

Zuko was blushing an amount that was certainly giving away _something_ , but Sokka kept the attention on him so that the others didn’t have to notice.

“Sounds like this person really cares about you,” Katara said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Zuko seemed to be shrinking in his royal robes, his face tomato-red, and Sokka almost felt a little bit bad for him. There was a part of him that was hoping that one of his guards would just come in a swoop him away so that he didn’t have to face the others when they inevitably noticed his blush or the fact that he was almost sat underneath the table as if he was trying to disappear. To be fair, he probably was.

“I think it’s just someone who really cares about people,” Sokka replied. “I’ve read that there’s this being they called the blue spirit and they help other people out, and never reveal who they are.”

“Yeah we know, Sokka. You’ve already told us they’re called the blue spirit, remember?” Katara interrupted.

Sokka didn’t want to say that he was explaining it to Zuko, and have the attention turn to him, and so he decided to play dumb. “Oh, I had said that already? I don’t remember.” He shrugged. “Anyway, they’re a nobody.”

“That’s kind of fun,” Toph said with an odd tone. “Keep it all a mystery.”

Did she know something? Sokka could feel something was going on with her, but he couldn’t quite place it.

When he dared another glance at Zuko their eyes met. Zuko froze, not sure of what to do to not give himself away. At least his blush was slowly leaving his face. Sokka panicked and tried to think of something to say.

“Are you okay, Zuko? You look tired.” He asked as a way of changing the subject, but then afterward immediately realised that it sounded like an accusation. _Tired_. Like he had been up all night caring for a certain someone.

“Has work been tough today?” He quickly added.

Zuko nodded with a yawn. “Yes, the meetings have been exhausting.. but I won’t bore you with all that fire lord stuff.”

It was quiet for a moment, until Zuko realised that to everyone else’s knowledge they hadn’t seen each other much.

“How’s the flu treating you? It looks like you’re doing better than last time I saw you.”

Sokka smiled at that. “Yes, I am feeling better. It’s still not quite finished with me yet, but I am with it..! I want to be able to _smell_ again and _eat_ again and _walk_ without being _sore_.” He whined dramatically.

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Always so dramatic.”

Sokka gasped to add to the drama, and in the corner of his eye, he could see Katara roll her eyes.

“Dramatic? Me? Zuko, how dare you accuse me of something like that..!”

Zuko laughed but didn’t know how to reply. It didn’t matter to either of them though; they loved these moments between the two of them, and that was enough.

When dinner was finished Zuko was the first one to excuse himself. He was tired he said. _Of course you are, you keep being up at night._ Sokka thought to himself.

Sokka was the second one to excuse himself, he needed a while to stumble back to his room and he needed to be alone for a moment. He was trying to figure out what he was going to do that night. It wasn’t like he could just pretend to be asleep again. Zuko would probably see straight through that this time. Especially after their conversation during dinner.

And so he laid in bed and thought, and thought, and thought until he ended up falling asleep before he had decided on a plan. Well…. great.

He woke up later that night from Zuko’s gentle touches, and almost panicked when he realised it was him.

Zuko quietly shushed him and tucked him back in, before getting up.

Without a second thought, or even a first one to be honest, Sokka grabbed Zuko’s wrist before he could walk away.

“Wait.” He breathed heavily, surprised by his own actions. “Sit down.” He said hoarsely.

Zuko listened and sat down on the very edge of the bed.

Sokka sat up in his bed and tried to figure out what to say now that he’d told him to stay.

He looked to the side and saw the usual glass of water and quickly took a big gulp. Maybe the cold water would wake him up enough to allow him to think properly.

“Thank you.” He said sincerely, after a moment.

Zuko didn’t say a word, just bent his head forward politely.

Without thinking about what to say or do next he just blurted it out.

“I know it’s you, Zuko.”

Behind the mask, Zuko’s eyes widened. He panicked and put on a terrible fake voice and asked, “Who’s Zuko?”

Sokka rolled his eyes with a smile. “If anything that proves it’s you.” He scoffed jokingly. “Who’s Zuko? Oh, I don’t know, just _the fire lord_..!”

Zuko stayed quiet, not sure how to fix his mistake.

“Who’s Zuko?” Sokka scoffed again. “He’s an idiot. Who for some reason thinks he needs to hide to be able to show affection.”

Zuko visibly froze at that, and Sokka felt bad for confronting him so harshly. He just had things to say, okay?

“He’s ridiculous. He’s a guy who wants to _be_ good and _do_ good, but is afraid of the idea of people _seeing_ him do good.”

Zuko huffed behind the mask, not angry, just a little bit offended that Sokka knew him so well.

“He’s also the man of my dreams,” Sokka added nonchalantly.

“You mean the man _in_ your dreams,” Zuko replied dryly, not hiding his voice this time. For some reason, he was 100% certain that Sokka didn’t have feelings for him whatsoever. He found it ridiculous and frankly insulting that he would imply otherwise.

Sokka smirked, knowing that voice and the young man it belonged to, but he especially smirked because he was about to blow the boy’s mind.

Without saying anything he reached up and undid the ribbon that kept the mask on. In a moment of panic, Zuko’s hand flew up to keep it there.

Sokka moved closer on the bed and took a hold of the mask with both his hands. He slowly pulled it away, and Zuko let him. He wasn't sure why he let him, maybe it was Sokka’s skin brushing past his.. or maybe it was hope, or curiosity, that made him let his guard down. Whatever it was, his heart was beating so fast he thought that maybe it would give in before Sokka had fully removed the mask.

“No…” Sokka uttered quietly, looking at Zuko’s scared face as it was revealed. “The man _of_ my dreams.”

Zuko looked surprised and uncertain and shy and flustered and _everything_ at once.

Sokka placed the mask on the bed next to them and brought his hands back up to Zuko’s face. He slid one past his cheek and into his neck.

Zuko immediately closed his eyes and leant into the hand on his cheek. He let the hand on his neck pull him forward until their foreheads met.

Sokka closed his eyes as well and breathed in deeply. When he opened them again he searched his crush’s face. He caressed his thumb over his cheek and fought the urge to just straight up kiss him.

“Zuko…” he whispered.

Zuko slowly, reluctantly, opened his eyes and looked at him.

“Sorry.” He whispered, not knowing what else to say to his friend.

“Why are you sorry?” Sokka asked, feeling saddened by the apology.

“As the fire lord, I can’t just visit you when I want. It would be a thing. There'd be a guard in the room with me. Besides, I have so much to do, I have meetings to go to and changes to discuss, and people to meet, and places to speak at… and at night… the guards won’t let me leave. They say I need my rest or whatever.”

“So you hide..?” Sokka brought the hand in his neck back to his cheek and watched as Zuko closed his eyes again.

“I have to do _something_ to see you.” Admitting that with his eyes closed was easier. It was way too hard to say the truth _and_ look him in the eye.

Sokka felt his heart pounding in his chest and his butterflies felt like they were trying to find a way out of his body.

Zuko continued quietly. “So I put on this, and climb out the window.” He gestured at his clothes.

“You climb out the window…?!” Sokka asked incredulously.

Zuko nodded, forcing himself to look him in the eye.

“Every night… to see _me_ …?”

Zuko shrugged. His cheeks heated up as soon as he realised how much he had just given away. It seemed he had already forgotten that the boy had just told him he was the man of his dreams.

Sokka was quiet as he searched his face, and slowly, finally connected all the dots.

“I don’t want to make you sick.” He started seriously after a moment of thinking. “but if I wasn’t sick right now…” He let his eyes wander down to his lips. “I’d kiss you _so good._ ”

He said it with so much longing in his voice that Zuko let out a shuddering breath. It took him less than a second to decide he didn’t care about getting sick and he kissed him harshly.

When the initial shock had worn off Sokka pushed him away, and tried to look him in the eye. “You’ll get sick.”

“I _don’t_ care,” Zuko said with more confidence than Sokka was used to, and that was all he needed to give in.

Zuko kissed him desperately, and Sokka loved feeling like he wanted it just as much as him.

Their kiss was feverish, passionate, full of a want they had held back for too long. They had _longed_ for this moment and it was finally here.

When minutes later Zuko still didn’t calm down Sokka carefully pushed him away. He grabbed his shirt and held him in place as soon as he noticed Zuko was moving further away than he was meant to.

“Calm down, Zuko. I’m not going anywhere.” He was embarrassingly out of breath. Kissing and breathing were already difficult at the same time, but it was especially hard to do with a stuffed nose.

He leant in and kissed his lips so softly it gave them both goosebumps.

“And neither are you.” He added with a grin when he felt Zuko shiver.

He could feel the heat of his blush under his hand and couldn’t help but kiss his cheek as well.

“Why are you blushing?” He whispered to his skin.

“Because… You do things to me.” He admitted.

Sokka backed off to look at him, but it was too dark to see everything he wanted to see. He reached over to his nightstand and pulled the candle close to them. Zuko lit it with a quick move of his hand and Sokka smiled. He knew Zuko didn’t want to be seen, not truly, but he still let him try.

He held the candle between their faces and looked at him intently.

“I do things to you?”

Zuko blushed even more and wanted to move his face out of the light, but he forced himself to be seen.

“Sokka…” He breathed, uncertain of how to explain himself. “I…” He swallowed heavily. “I have never received much affection.. and that wasn’t really a problem… Until I met you. It had only ever been a problem when I was a kid and _needed_ affection.”

He took a deep breath to get himself ready.

“Except with you… I didn’t just feel the need I was already familiar with… I felt the _want_ …” He looked away nervously. “I _want_ you close to me. I _want_ you to be as touchy as you always are. I _want_ you to play with my hair or my robes or.. or my heart..!” He drew in a shaky breath. “I… I’ve never felt so… alive… so good… so… so _loved_.”

He swallowed nervously. Sokka blinked at him. He couldn’t quite believe that Zuko felt the exact same way he did. These touches had been everything to him. They had been a form of affection he hadn’t received in years. He only had his gram-grams hugging him or brushing his hair out of his face if he was sick, but never anything like what Zuko had given him.

Zuko took a deep breath before he continued. “What also comes with that is that _I_ want to be close to _you_. I want to play with _your_ hair. I want to _show_ affection as well as receive it… but it… scares me. It scares me to want something so badly… but… receiving it somehow has become less easy than giving..” He tried to find the words to properly explain himself.

Sokka lowered the candle and set it back down. He wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to ramble on about everything stupid he could say, but his mind was just… blank. He reached out and took a hold of both Zuko’s hands, holding them tightly.

“Despite it being really hard… You…” Zuko continued carefully, looking down at their hands. “You have made me feel… and still continue to make me feel… like I am worthy of that affection…”

Sokka could feel his hands tremble and he held on tighter.

“…all these years… I thought that I just simply didn’t deserve it. Like honour… Affection was something I had to earn… and I just simply wasn’t good enough.”

“No…” Sokka whispered in shock. He brought their hands up to his face and pressed soft kisses onto his knuckles.

“See, this…” Zuko said with a warm smile. “You just do things like this, like it’s nothing, like it’s not something I have needed all my life.”

Sokka let go of his hands just to move in and cup both his cheeks. He kissed his lips so softly Zuko felt like he was melting. He kissed him so gently, in fact, he couldn’t think.. or breathe for that matter.

“See,” Zuko said when he was finally able to breathe in again. “You do things to me.”

“No..” Sokka uttered as he brushed his hair out of his face. “I do things _for_ you.”

To this Zuko looked down and took a moment to think.

Sokka didn’t mind taking the time to explain himself. It was dark after all. Darkness made it easier, to tell the truth.

“I do things _for_ you because you deserve it. You didn’t have to earn it, you just had to be _you_.” He caressed his cheek with the back of his hand. “I hold your hands for you. I play with your hair for you. I kiss you for you.” He chuckled to himself. “And for me.. because I want to.”

Zuko rolled his eyes but was smiling nevertheless.

“I don’t do these things _to_ you. I do them _for_ you.” He kissed his forehead this time. “..and _with_ you.”

He caressed his face once more and gazed at him with so much love and intensity it sent shivers down Zuko’s spine. He was glad that it was dark because if he had seen that look with its full intensity he probably would have exploded.

Sokka caressed his way down to his neck and then up into his hair. He tangled and untangled his fingers in there, just simply playing, and giving him goosebumps.

“Affection is not something you do to someone. You give affection to someone because… because you love them.” He whispered to his lips, about to kiss him softly once again.

Except, Zuko moved backwards a little and pulled a face.

“Fuck, Sokka, you just kissed me for the first time and you’re already saying you love me?” He joked out of discomfort. It wasn't a bad kind of discomfort, but he felt just a little bit too seen, and a little bit too loved and respected.

Sokka kissed him harshly, making him lose his balance and break the kiss as he fell backwards onto the bed.

Sokka immediately moved in and hovered over him as he looked him in the eye. He purposely laid down a little too harshly. Chest pressed against chest.

Zuko spluttered and laughed, before clasping a hand over his mouth. He wasn’t supposed to be heard by anyone else.

Sokka gave him a stern look. “I know you’re just joking because you don’t know how to handle these kinds of things.”

He got back up and pulled Zuko up with him. “Besides… you should know all those things already, you have been giving me the affection I need too. You have been taking care of me and showering me in a kind of affection that gave me butterflies. Butterflies, Zuko.” He smiled fondly at the shy, surprised smile Zuko gave him.

He leant closer to his face and with his eyes on his lips he added, “..and for the record; You kissed me first.”

“Okay, and then you kissed second, third and fourth and fifth and so on.” he teased back, trying his best to feel comfortable.

“Actually,” Sokka said, pulling him in by his shirt and kissing him again. “You were the second kiss too.” He pretended to think about it and nodded. “and then I was all the others.”

“Okay,” Zuko said, biting his lip and also nodding his head. “I’ll be the next one. It’s only fair.”

Sokka laughed and then waited patiently.

Except as he sat there, Zuko got more nervous than he had ever been before. He searched all over Sokka’s face, looked at the way they were sitting, started a move, and then backed away again.

“Don’t overthink it,” Sokka whispered, moving closer. “Just lean in.”

Zuko took a deep breath and then did exactly that; just lean in.

Their lips met softly and he breathed in sharply when they did. Was he really the one kissing him softly? and not Sokka doing the gentle work?

He parted his lips slightly and pressed closer.

Sokka drew in a shaky breath and for the first time in maybe all of his life Zuko was 100% sure that he was doing something right.

He moved closer, put a hand on his waist, and a hand in his hair. It was what felt most comfortable. It made the most sense… _Right? That was the point, right? Wait, don’t overthink Zuko. Just kiss him._

Sokka didn’t seem to mind at all. And when he accidentally tucked on those glorious locks, Sokka made a sound in the back of his throat, tilted his head back and parted his lips more.. and that? that was _it_. He felt like he’d never need anything else in his life again.

He pressed closer and parted his lips further and then suddenly Sokka’s tongue was in his mouth. He probably shouldn’t have moaned, but he just couldn’t help himself. After the first passionate kiss this was just.. so much better. That first kiss they just simply couldn’t hold it in any longer. This kiss though… they were slow, and they took their time; every move was _deliberate_.

Kissing him was like coming home, and he never wanted to leave again.

“See?” He mumbled after several more minutes of passionate kissing, with only a couple of minor breathing breaks. “You do things to me.”

Sokka rolled his eyes. “We’ve been over this.”

He moved the mask over to the bedside table and pulled Zuko down next to him. The young fire lord gave him a look of confusion.

“You’re sleeping here tonight,” Sokka explained matter of factly.

“But the guard-” Sokka pressed a finger to his lips.

“You can sneak out in the morning.”

Zuko smiled bigger and bigger as he realised what he had signed up for with this boy. He was going to have a blast with this idiot. This ridiculously clever idiot.

Sokka settled down half on his chest, arm thrown over it, and reaching up to hold onto his shoulder.

“Do we have to go over everything again?” He asked calmly.

“The part where you kiss me, or the part where you said you love me?” Zuko asked jokingly.

Sokka moved up and looked at him with a disapproving face, and Zuko was glad there was so little light that they couldn’t see each other that well.

“I mean the part where you realise you deserve all the affection you need.. _and_ all the affection you want…” He ran the back of his hand along his face again. “…and also all the affection I’m gonna give to you because _I_ need to. And want to.”

Zuko looked up at the ceiling, trying with all his might to stop the burning behind his eyes.

“It’s a good thing we’re talking about this while you’re sick.” He tried to tease. “You would never have said these things if you didn’t have a fever messing with your head.” He playfully ruffled Sokka’s hair, but Sokka slapped him on the chest. Hard.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He said a little too angrily.

He could feel Zuko tensing against him and he sighed, before leaning his head back down on his chest. He reached over, grabbed Zuko’s hand, and started to play with his fingers.

“You _know_ I’m not just saying this because I’m sick, right? I mean it.” The look on his face was pensive, and it was probably for the best that Zuko couldn’t see that.

“Yeah…” was all the young fire lord could let out.

It was quiet for a while. Zuko was thinking about the sweet things Sokka had said. Sokka was thinking about how Zuko didn’t believe him. It hurt.

“You were only joking, right?” He asked after a moment, looking up at him.

It was hard for Zuko to admit and so it took a minute of intense eye contact before nodding. “Yeah…” He smiled awkwardly. “I know it didn’t just come from the fever…”

He looked away unable to see his face as he admitted this. “…but I’m still having a hard time believing it.”

Sokka smiled sadly and made Zuko face him again. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you believe me.”

He kissed him again. He lingered this time, wanting to pour all his affection for the boy into the one kiss. Sokka pulled away all too soon.

Zuko couldn’t quite explain how he felt in the moment. Thankfully he didn’t have to, because he already had two soft, swollen lips pressing against his own once again.

Moments later though, Sokka backed away in a hurry. “sneeze..!” He exclaimed before letting out a sneeze that could rival uncle Iroh’s.

“Bless you!” They heard from the other room.

Was that… _Toph_?

Sokka threw his head back in annoyed realisation; Toph was in the room next to them.

“Uh, thanks Toph..!” Sokka called back.

The boys looked at each other with wide eyes.

“Now will you two please go to bed, I’m trying to sleep here..!” She yelled through the wall.

Their eyes widened even further and Zuko moved up to a seated position so fast his head was spinning.

“Uh yeah, I’m gonna go sleep now..!” Sokka replied.

“Good night, Sokka!”

“Good night, Toph..!” He called back awkwardly. He was about to lie back down and actually go to sleep.

Except then Toph called out something else...

“Good night, Zuko..!”

_Shit._

The boys looked at each other in terror. What were they going to do? What had she heard? They took too long to come up with what to do, and Zuko had stayed silent a minute too long.

“ _Good. night._ Zuko!” Toph repeated in an annoyed tone.

“Uh Good- Good night, Toph…!” Zuko said awkwardly.

The boys laid down on the bed with their eyes wide and their hearts racing. How much had she heard? Was she going to tell the others? Had she known Zuko was the blue spirit visiting him at night? Could she somehow tell it was him by the sound he made or something?

“Will you two please stop panicking, I am trying to sleep!” She called out after several minutes.

“Uh s-sorry..!” Sokka said back, just barely loud enough for her to hear. She rolled her eyes to herself. Ridiculous panicking idiots...

The young men wrapped their arms around each other and eventually, after an eternity of trying to be calm, they finally were, and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't wait to post the final chapter so I'm going to post it tonight as well. I hope you liked this chapter! <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit of a set-back but they figure it out in the end. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! I couldn't wait any longer to post the whole thing so here we go!

When Sokka awoke the next morning Zuko was gone.

He had to admit he was disappointed, but he knew he had to leave so the guards wouldn’t find out.

Katara came to pick him up not too long after he had woken up and helped him stumble to their breakfast.

Toph was thankfully acting like nothing had happened, and he couldn’t be more grateful.

When they started eating Zuko hadn’t shown up yet. He was a little bit disappointed. He wanted to see him again and share knowing looks with him.

He wasn’t the only one who noticed his absence.

“Was he busy this morning? I thought he was going to join us.” Aang said a little disappointed. They were going to do some fire bending after breakfast, before this big meeting he had.

One of Zuko’s guards entered the room and called for attention. “I’m afraid the fire lord has fallen ill.” He called out way too loudly for a room filled with four people.

Aang and Katara gasped sincerely and Toph gasped dramatically.

“What happened? Is he gonna be okay?” Katara asked frantically.

“Relax..!” Sokka said, before taking a bite of his bread, not even looking up. “It’s just the flu, he’s fine.” He was so unbothered by it he talked through his mouthful of food.

The others all looked at him with their mouth agape. Well, all except for Toph, of course.

“His majesty shall be joining you shortly. From a distance.” The guard interrupted. Sokka nodded a thank you at him and the man left.

Aang had completely ignored the guard and turned to face his friend. “What do you mean it’s just the flu, how do you know?”

Katara huffed out an annoyed breath. “Sokka, what did you do?!”

Sokka was about to tell them that the flu was going around, he probably caught it during dinner or something. Except at that moment, Zuko shuffled into the room, sniffling and rubbing his good eye with his palm.

“Morning guys. Don’t come too close to me.”

Both Katara and the Avatar looked between the two of them.

Sokka took a sip of his water and waited for the other guards to leave the room.

When the door closed he set down his glass and shot Zuko a charming grin.

“ _Good_ morning.” He said way too knowingly.

“Um morning,” Zuko said in their general direction, a blush growing on his cheeks. He sat down at the end of the long table.

It was an odd look; this long table being occupied by two sick guys at either end and three other teens in the middle of it.

“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?” Katara asked distressed.

Sokka popped a berry into his mouth a pretend to think about it. “Nope.”

She looked over at Zuko who shook his head as if he didn’t know what she was talking about.

Then, much to the boys’ horror, she looked at Toph.

“Hey Toph, why haven’t you said anything about this yet?”

Sokka almost choked on his bite of food, and Zuko had bitten his cheek so hard it was bleeding.

Toph grinned, feeling their heartbeats rising with every second she waited. It was a good thing she loved bothering Katara more than she loved bothering either of the boys because it saved them that day.

“I just don’t care.” She said with a shrug.

Katara groaned. “Fine. I’ll figure it out myself.”

Sokka shrugged. That was fine with him. She wasn’t going to find anything anyway. Unless maybe if Aang connected the dots and told her, but he’d deal with that later.

Katara spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what was going on, but Zuko had actually become more and more sick and he became off-limits. So then all she could do was bother her brother who pretended to be sicker than he was just so she’d leave him alone.

He spent half the day napping, catching up on lost sleep, but then spent the night awake and alone.

The following 2 weeks were lonely for Sokka. Zuko had become very ill and needed constant care, and the guards refused to let him visit to see how he was doing.

He tried to get Toph to give him a secret message, but that almost blew their cover.

Even when Zuko was doing much better the guards wouldn’t let him leave their sight. They didn’t stand guard outside the room as per usual, but stayed inside just around the corner from where he was sleeping, just so they’d be fast enough if something went wrong. Except the only thing that went wrong was that he couldn’t be the blue spirit anymore. He couldn’t visit Sokka and they wouldn't let Sokka visit him.

One morning at breakfast Katara asked Sokka if the blue spirit still visited him at night. Sokka almost choked on his drink. Again.

“Uh yeah, they do.” He lied.

Katara narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth, but ultimately gave up. Sokka was a pretty good liar, when it truly came to it. In her head, she created several other plans to find out what was going on. She was going to figure it out if it killed her.

Finally, after almost two weeks the guards thought it was okay to stand guard outside his room again and Zuko, who had already been feeling healthy again for several days, immediately put on the costume and ventured out to see Sokka.

He came in and Sokka flew into his arms. He had been awake, as was now usual for him. Zuko held on tight.

“These have been the worst two weeks of my life..!” Zuko whispered dramatically after he had taken off the mask.

Sokka just kissed him without saying a word.

Zuko kissed back and let himself get pulled to the bed. They held each other tight and spent most of the night silently holding onto each other. They kissed every now and then. They whispered sweet messages or absurd jokes every now and then. They quietly giggled and then silently gazed at each other in the darkness.

They kissed deeply, and played with the other’s hair, and caressed each other’s faces, and breathed each other’s breath. They took whatever they needed until they were satisfied enough to fall asleep.

Very early in the morning, they both startled awake when someone banged their fist against the door.

“Sokka, are you awake?”

_Shit! Katara!_ They both thought as they looked at each other in shock.

Zuko raced out of bed and behind the dressing screen just in time. Katara opened the door and peeked inside. Sokka was sitting up in bed, rubbing his face.

“Katara, why can’t you just let me sleep?” He yawned and stretched out his arms.

“Okay..! Sorry I wanted to see my brother..!” She said annoyed, retreading out of the room. There was something about her tone that made it seem like she was up to something, and so when the door closed after she had said her goodbye, Sokka held up a hand.

Zuko stayed hidden behind the screen and sure enough, after a second or two Katara opened the door again and poked her head in. “Did I have to pick you up for breakfast, or can you walk by yourself again?” Her eyes darted around the room.

Sokka pretended to stretch some more and hoped with all his might that she hadn’t seen him hold his hand up. “I can walk by myself, thanks Katara.” He said as genuinely as he could.

She, once again, looked around the room suspiciously, but then closed the door and walked away for real this time.

They both breathed out relieved. Zuko reappeared from behind the screen and let himself fall back onto the bed next to Sokka. He crawled closer to Sokka and held onto him tightly.

Sokka kissed him softly. “Good morning by the way.”

Zuko smiled at him. “Good morning.”

After a second of gently gazing at each other Zuko suddenly realised it was morning. He got up quickly and Sokka got up too until he realised what was wrong. When he did he let himself fall backwards with a grunt.

“Zuko, stay.”

Zuko looked out the window and tried to determine how long he still had. He wanted to stay too. He wanted to be in Sokka’s arms and feel his warmth and his skin under his fingers. He wanted to give him so much affection. It didn’t matter anymore that Sokka could see him. He could be openly affectionate now. He didn’t have to hide behind a mask.

He remembered a night a couple of weeks ago, before Sokka had figured out it was him. A night in which he gazed and Sokka and thought about brushing his lips over his forehead, thought about whispering sweet words in his ear, thought about lying down next to him and holding on tightly. Back then he had thought that he couldn’t do any of these things. He had thought that he wasn’t Sokka’s type, that he had to be someone else just to be loved by him, but as it turned out, the opposite was true.

“I think I can stay a bit longer.” He decided.

Thankful beyond words, Sokka immediately opened up his arms and motioned for him to lie down again. Zuko obliged and settled in on his chest. He tried his best to not get too comfortable, as he didn’t want to fall asleep again, but it was just so damn cozy.

They spent another hour or two in each other’s arms. They kissed a lot; it had been way too long since their last night together so they just had to. It was really quite simple to them. They had gotten together and then hadn’t been able to _be_ together or even see each other for two _whole_ weeks. How they managed to get through it they didn’t know.

Perhaps they were being a tad dramatic when they thought about it in that way, but since the other agreed, there was no need to be realistic.

When the sun started to rise Sokka hesitated to wake up the young fire lord; his boyfriend. He felt so serene with the young man asleep in his arms, but he knew that if he said nothing he’d fall asleep with him.

“Zuko.” He whispered. He ran a hand through his hair and he stirred awake.

“Hm?” Was all he could muster.

“The sun is rising, I think you should go before someone sees you.”

Zuko pouted dramatically. “I don’t wanna…..” He whined childishly.

Sokka rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re the fire lord.”

“I can’t believe you’re my boyfriend either, and yet here we are.” He answered easily. His eyes still closed.

Sokka just kissed him as an answer.

Zuko let out an annoyed groan, moved up, and kissed him deeper. He just wanted to stay and be lazy and comfortable.

“Zuko, it’s getting light, they’ll see you,” Sokka said, trying to keep him at a distance long enough so that he could finish his sentence and look him in the eye, before the guy kissed him again.

He pouted again, sighed, and then got up. “You’re right…”

Sokka got up with him and watched as he put the mask back on. It looked ridiculous and he had to bite his finger to stop himself from laughing.

The way Zuko got the mask to be on his face tightly was by holding the mask up to his face, pressing his face against the wall to keep it in place, and then using both his hands to tie a proper knot in the back.

Zuko was glad that when he turned around Sokka couldn’t see his embarrassed face. He wasn’t happy, however, that he could see him giggling.

Sokka pressed his lips together, in an attempt to keep himself from laughing, and walked over. He pressed a kiss to the mask’s forehead and then to both Zuko’s hands.

“Will you have time today?”

Zuko took a moment to mentally go through his schedule. “I will have some time around lunch.”

“Meet me at the turtle-duck pond, I’ll make sure we’re alone.”

Zuko nodded. He regretted putting on his mask so quickly. He wanted to smile at him and kiss him and hold him close one last moment. “I’m smiling right now.” He told him quietly.

Sokka grinned back at him. “I’m sure you are.” He winked and in return Zuko cupped his cheek. Sokka leant into the warm hand and smiled gently. “See you soon.” He whispered.

“See you soon.” Zuko agreed.

And then he was gone.

When it was finally lunchtime Zuko was late. He had missed out on so much while he was sick there was way more to do than there was time in the day. Thankfully Sokka had brought food.

They eat and they laugh and they feed the baby turtle-ducks. They hold hands and they kiss and they blush, because what if someone had heard them, or seen them. It was exciting and nerve-wracking and when it was time for him to leave they promised they’d do this every day if they could.

That night Zuko struggled his way to Sokka’s room. When he got there he immediately took off his mask and dropped down onto the bed next to Sokka.

He was absolutely exhausted. He kissed Sokka sleepily.

“Hmm, minty,” Sokka said as he tasted him.

“Yeah, that’s what I had,” Zuko muttered against his lips. “Mint-tea.”

Sokka sleepily ran a hand through his hair, kissed him once more, and then settled into a position in which they could sleep. They were out within seconds.

Katara could see that as they were both getting healthy again they were acting so much happier and nicer, but there was also something else.. but still, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it….

Except for one day, during a walk with Aang, she mentioned Sokka and the blue spirit. Aang, like it was nothing, mentioned that, “you know Zuko is the blue spirit, right?”

Katara froze. “WHAT?! _ZUKO_?!”

She sat down on the nearest rock. Aang crouched down next to her but then she got up and started pacing. Aang sat down on the rock she had previously sat on and looked at her as she seemed to lose her mind.

"The blue spirit has been taking care of him every night since he got sick..!” She rubbed her hand over her face as she thought. “Oh, shit and Zuko was super tired all those days!” She exclaimed as she realised more and more. “And then suddenly Zuko was sick and Sokka _knew_ what it was!” She looked at Aang expecting a reaction, but got none. “Zuko must have gotten sick from taking care of him..!”

With every breakthrough she had, she started talking louder.

“Katara keep it down we don’t know who else can hear us..!” Aang ushered.

“So, Zuko came to visit him every night..” She continued as if she hadn’t just heard Aang shush her.

“He _took care_ of him-even when he was sick himself..?! No that can’t be, he didn’t leave his room for days! But Sokka said the blue spirit visited every day! Was he lying?”

She grabbed Aang’s hand and pulled him along.

They were the first ones back for lunch that day and Katara did not stop bothering Aang with questions and thoughts until Sokka and Zuko walked into the room.

They walked in hand in hand, Sokka confidently and Zuko shyly. It had been a few weeks of them keeping it all a secret, and that morning they had decided they were no longer going to hide it from their friends.

Katara didn’t even notice their hands but, did immediately bombard them with questions.

“So, Sokka, did the blue spirit visit you every night?”

“Yup.”

“Did he visit the night before Zuko got sick?”

The boys looked at each other. Zuko started to blush, but Sokka was unfazed.

“Yup.”

“So did the blue spirit visit while Zuko was sick?”

Sokka snorted. “Hmhm. He totally did..!” He said sarcastically. “…in my dreams.”

He flashed a grin at Zuko, who rolled his eyes in return. He’d never admit that those kinds of things worked on him, but then again he didn’t have to, Sokka already knew.

“That’s it!” Katara said, interrupting his thoughts. “You two are dating!” She exclaimed theatrically.

Sokka looked at her with the most bored expression he could muster. Zuko tried to do the same, but he felt way too flustered to be convincing.

They held up the hands that had been together the whole time.

“Bingo,” Sokka said with a loud B.

“Finally!” Toph exclaimed from behind them. “I thought you’d never figure it out..!”

“You knew?!” Katara exclaimed.

“I sleep in the room next to them! At least I would’ve _slept_ if they didn’t spend whole entire nights crying about affection and kisses and _love_..!” She pretended to puke on the floor.

Katara looked between Sokka’s pseudo-confident face, Zuko’s completely flustered state, and their intertwined hands.

She blinked a few times, nodded for about thirty seconds, and then finally spoke.

“I’m happy for you guys.”

Sokka closed his eyes, feeling a weight fall off his shoulders. A part of him thought that maybe Katara would kill him or Zuko if she found out about them.

He turned to Zuko, took back his hand, and kissed his cheek. “Excuse me.”

He stepped over to his sister so quickly it startled her and then he engulfed her in a hug.

She hugged him back and afterward ruffled his hair, to which he yelped and got offended. Katara laughed, and Sokka joined.

“Thanks, Katara.” He uttered awkwardly. She smiled warmly at him.

Zuko appeared next to him and smiled at the two of them.

“Oh no that was a mistake..!” Sokka tried to warn him, but Katara was already moving in.

“You’re getting a hug too!” She said with her arms wide.

“Oh no..” Zuko whispered before abruptly being reminded of how strong Katara was.

“too tight..!” He groaned after a second and she backed off with a laugh.

“Thank you, Katara,” Zuko said, truly thankful beyond words. He then turned towards Toph. “And thank you, Toph, for not telling the others.”

She shrugged, not wanting to admit that she cared.

“Since we’re being thankful…” Sokka chimed in. “I think it’s only fair if we thank Aang.” He faced Aang and smiled widely. “Without him, I would not have made a move.”

Aang frowned. “Really?”

Sokka nodded with a serious face. “No really. Seriously. If you hadn’t told me he’s the blue spirit I never would’ve said anything..!”

Zuko blinked at that information. “Who else have you been telling that _secret_ information to, Aang?”

Aang shrugged. “Just the people in this room.”

Zuko exhaled in relief.

“Keep it to that, would you?”

“Why do you care if people know?” Aang asked genuinely curious.

“Because I’m using the blue spirit to slip past the guards and visit my boyfr-” He looked at Sokka in shock. They still hadn’t gotten used to that word. It had only been used once when they were both too tired to realise they had said it. “…my boyfriend.”

Sokka stepped over to him but didn’t touch him just yet. “Say it again.”

“My boyfriend Sokka.”

Sokka wanted to move in immediately, but he knew that he couldn’t.

“Hey, how do you feel about affection in public?”

Zuko breathed in deeply, he knew what Sokka meant. He motioned to the others as he said, “around the right people…” He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “…it could be alright.”

Sokka rolled his eyes, but he was already moving in. He kissed him softly until he could feel Zuko’s knees giving in. He backed away but kept holding on to him to keep him steady. They share a long moment of quietly and lovingly gazing at each other.

“You guys are disgusting,” Katara said with a smile. Sokka did his signature finger guns and she rolled her eyes.

“I think we did pretty good.” He said proudly. “You’re the Avatar’s girlfriend, and I’m the fire lord’s boyfriend.”

This made his sister laugh genuinely. “Oh, spirits you’re right..!”

Sokka could feel Zuko pulling him closer again and he immediately lost all attention for the others.

“The fire lord’s boyfriend,” Zuko whispered. “I like the sound of that.”

“Oof Zuko, I didn’t know you were so possessive.” Sokka teased, hanging his arms around his neck.

Zuko rolled his eyes and pulled him in even closer. “Oh shut up and kiss me.”

Sokka smirked with a raised eyebrow. “As you wish, your majesty.”

Zuko groaned; he hated that. “Please never say that again..! I’m not _commanding_ you to kiss me, I want you to kiss me because _you_ want to.”

“You know I do,” Sokka whispered. He hadn’t stopped leaning in as Zuko complained and so he whispered it less than an inch away from his lips.

The girls rolled their eyes at their cheesiness. Aang thought it was sweet.

Sokka kissed his fire lord slowly and tenderly. He knew they couldn’t keep this up for long, Zuko’s knees would threaten to give in again, but for now, he enjoyed kissing him in front of the others. As much as most kissing should be in private, it was nice to just be able to kiss in front of others without the fear of real judgment.

After a minute too long of that, he moved away but still stayed close enough for their noses to touch. He rubbed their noses together, like dragonfly-bunnies did, and smiled when Zuko chuckled at him.

“You know…” Zuko started. “You’re not just the fire lord’s boyfriend. You’re also the future chief of the southern water tribe. So really, I should be the future chief’s boyfriend.”

Sokka grinned at that. He was going to be chief when his father stepped down from the role. He loved that Zuko would rather be the future chief’s boyfriend over Sokka being the fire lord’s boyfriend. Except he was also damn proud of being the fire lord’s boyfriend.

“You’re the eldest though, so really that’s more important.”

“Like hell it is..! You’re already rebuilding your people’s village and strengthening bonds with other nations before you’re even chief..! You’ve been a fantastic strength to your village all of your life. You have-”

Sokka cut him off with a quick kiss. “Stop it. I’m not better than you.”

“Well, I’m not better than you,” Zuko said back rigidly.

After a moment of glaring at each other, they burst out laughing. They were both right. They were equal. Equally good and equally important.

“Just boyfriends then…?”

“Just? that’s not right. You’re making it sound like you’re not the best thing that’s ever happened to me…!” Zuko complained, dramatic as ever.

Sokka rolled his eyes. “You are ridiculous. How do I please you? Are we regular boyfriends? Boring boyfriend? Spectacular boyfriends? Insane boyfriends? Handsome boyfriends?”

“Annoying boyfriends?” Katara uttered with an annoyed tone. The smirk tugging at the corners of her lips gave her away entirely.

Sokka, in return, just continued with his list. “Strong boyfriends? Gorgeous boyfriends? Special boyfriends? Hilarious boyfriends? Did I say, handsome boyfriends?”

Zuko grinned at him once more. He couldn’t choose just one of them. They were almost all true. “All of the above?” He asked with a shy smile. “Except for the boring one.” He added quickly.

“So… boyfriends then?”

Zuko nodded, more determined than ever before.

“Boyfriends.”

That night, when Zuko finally sneaked into his room again, they didn’t need words to greet each other. They kissed each other hello, got into bed together, and kissed each other good night. Zuko freely ran his fingers through Sokka’s hair. He pressed his lips to his forehead and knew that he didn’t have to ask if he could or be worried that Sokka didn’t want it.

They didn’t need words to figure out what the other wanted or to ask if, maybe, just maybe, perhaps, they might potentially want this too. There wasn’t a doubt in Zuko’s mind that he was allowed to kiss him when he wanted to or hold him when he needed to. Nor anymore. Sokka had made sure of that.

And so he kissed a trail down his face to his lips and kissed him as he caressed his face and played with his hair. Everything he hadn’t dared to do as himself before, he freely dared to take. Because he was allowed to need, and want, just as much as Sokka. They didn’t need words for that anymore. He knew that now.

For the last time that night, and one of the first times in their relationship, he kissed him again.

Without a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Please let me know your thoughts <3


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